Open ½ hour before sunrise
Close ½ hour after sunset
One of the oldest parks in Tacoma, what was once Alling Fruit Farm is now a place for the community to play, shoot hoops and picnic. This 5.6 acre neighborhood park was established in 1912.
About the Park
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About Frank S. Alling
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Frank Alling (1839-1912) and his wife Nellie (1842-1908) moved to Tacoma in 1873 and purchased a large homestead near Wapato Lake in what would later become South Tacoma. He was respected as an accomplished horticulturalist and developed part of it into a fruit and flower farm, naming it “Allington Fruit Farm.” The farm became one of the beauty spots of the community and Frank took great pride in the farm.
In 1891 Alling shipped twenty-six boxes of fine apples to Hong Kong. It was the first shipment of Washington apples to China. The varieties sent were Baldwin, Rubicon, Red Cheek and Newtown Pippin apples.
In addition to the gardens, Alling had a fascination with beautiful birds. He ordered Korean and Japanese pheasants, Golden Pheasants and Bantams from Woo Sung, China. He built an aviary on the property to raise the birds and later purchased a tract of land on Fox Island where the birds could run free. Field and Stream Magazine published an article about his pheasant raising efforts in 1897. Alling commented that he wanted to get “a tract of land across the bay while the price was low as a refuge for birds and wild creatures of the woods when man and civilization had eliminated the forest.”
During his later years Alling often said to friends that since he had no immediate relatives dependent on him (Nellie had predeceased him by four years and they had no children) or who needed any part of his estate, it was his intention to donate his fruit farm to the City of Tacoma for a public park and playground for children.
Shortly before his death in 1912 Frank Alling called the mayor of Tacoma, W.W. Seymour, to his home to donate ten acres of his homestead to the city to be used as a park where the children of the city could play. Alling requested that the park be named Frank Alling Park and that his remains be buried there. Upon his death in April 1912, Alling’s ashes were buried under a Lombardy poplar tree that he had planted many years before.
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Alling Park Pollinator Garden
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Alling Park Pollinator Garden
Garden is open the same hours at the park. Stop by and meet some of our VIPs (very important pollinators).
Visit the Bee Garden web pageClick image to view larger
